Trump's Actions Present a Risk to Civilization.
His internal and external policies – ranging from the effort to overturn the election in the past to recent actions and warnings – undermine both domestic and international jurisprudence. The implications are broader.
These actions threaten the very concept of a civilized world.
The ethical foundation of civilized society is to stop the stronger from preying upon and using the vulnerable. Otherwise, we could find ourselves trapped in a brutish war where survival of the strongest wins.
This principle is embedded of the Declaration and Constitution. It is equally the heart of the postwar international order supported by the America, built on multilateralism, popular sovereignty, individual liberties, and the legal authority.
However, it is a delicate construct, easily violated by those who choose to misuse their authority. Preserving it requires that the powerful have the moral fortitude to refrain from seeking temporary advantages, and that the public demand responsibility if they don't.
Absolute power does not make right. It leads to instability, chaos, and war.
Every time individuals, companies, or nations that are advantaged target and use those that are less so, the fabric of civilization frays. Should such behavior are not contained, the fabric unravels. Without intervention, the world can plunge into chaos and war. It has happened before.
Our current reality is a society and world with deepening divides. Influence and wealth are increasingly centralized than in modern history. This creates conditions for the elite to exploit the disadvantaged because they act with a sense of omnipotent.
The wealth of a small group of ultra-wealthy individuals is staggering. The power of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace extends over much of the globe. AI is poised to centralize economic and political clout even more. The offensive capability of the world's largest nations is unprecedented in human history.
Empowered by a compliant faction and a pliant supreme court, the executive office has been turned into the most powerful and unaccountable agent of government in the modern era.
Combine these factors and you see the looming crisis.
A direct line connects past transgressions to ongoing provocations. Each were founded upon the overconfidence of invincibility.
You see much the same in international affairs: in wars of aggression, in coercive diplomacy, and in the global depredation by massive conglomerates.
But, strength without restraint does not create right. It fosters instability, revolution, and bloodshed.
History shows that rules and conventions to constrain the powerful also safeguard them. Without such constraints, their relentless pursuit for increased control and resources ultimately lead to their downfall – and with them their corporations, nations, or empires. And risk world war.
This blatant contempt for legal order will haunt the nation and the world – and indeed a rules-based order – for a long time.
